The documentary “Standout: The Ben Kjar Story” tells the story of a young man in Utah born with the rare craniofacial disorder Crouton Syndrome, who turns a lifetime of bullying and unwanted attention into a singular desire to win in wrestling.
He does so, despite being several pounds under the lowest weight class, gaining confidence and respect along the way.
It’s narrated by Kjar, too, a natural and likeable storyteller, who as an adult isn’t exactly an ugly guy — he’s more a grizzled character who looks like he has a broken nose. Nobody would turn away from him, but as a child, a misshapen skull and bugging eyes had other kids — and even adults — staring or poking fun.
It was never as nasty as it became in the internet age, when strangers are perfectly willing to say the worst things about people online in attempts to be amusing.
“Standout” begins with a slew of these ugly comments, as if they were posted when he was born, which wasn’t the case. But Kjar not only overcomes these slurs, excels in his sport and gets the girl, he later became an inspirational speaker who becomes exceptionally well seasoned in telling his story of overcoming odds.
And “Standout” is perhaps the pinnacle of that story. Distributed by the Christian company Angel, it has some bits of God in it, as when his wife says “When you pray so long, God delivers.” Yet the film also has as its premise the Biblical story of the man who waited by a pool in Bethesda, to await healing from an angel who had “troubled the waters.”
This provides writer and director Tanner Christensen, in his director debut, a nice recurring visual of water imagery and would have worked better if Kjar were pursuing Olympic swimming rather than wrestling.
But after unsuccessful stints in basketball, baseball and soccer, young Kjar found his niche in wrestling despite his size, incessantly training and body-building. He had a goal so specific — three time state champion — he’d start signing his name 3XSC as a sophomore.
We see footage and hear coach recollections about big matches with rival schools that may not mean much to anyone outside the county, but eventually Kjar gets some attention for his success.
When a local TV station reports on his high school success, Kjar is angry and disappointed because they dwelled on his overcoming his unique condition. The anger seems misplaced, though, or at least premature, since Kjar’s story, on the speaking circuit and in the movie, is essentially the tale.
While it benefits from a lot of firsthand video amid recreations using kids with their own craniofacial abnormalities, “Standout” eventually suffers from a few too many details and extraneous side stories. (That one of his ultimate competitors is a wrestler with one leg, it practically begs for its own inspirational doc.)
Romancing his college girlfriend leads to a sudden engagement, and his future mother-in-law’s reluctance may have been tied equally to the shock of meeting him for the first time during the engagement announcement as much as his looks (either way, she has to apologize for it more than once on film).
As close as the new couple seems to be to their families, they hide the fact of their miscarriages from them. And when they finally secure an adoption — two in one day — they spring it on the wider family as a prank — with babies left in baskets on the doorstep one by one.
That the stunt is taped ensures it becomes a viral clip (and causes those nasty online snipes about his looks). And they repeat the prank with a third adoptee.
By now the story has gone on pretty long and we only hear about his Olympic wrestling bid and his speaking career only in titles at the end. His website stresses the speaking, and the film, but also has his Instagram link: “Sell Your Story and Make Millions.” Good luck, Ben.
“Standout: The Ben Kjar Story” opens in theaters in Utah, Texas and California Jan. 23. 2026.